Harish Rao slams Congress govt for slashing paddy procurement target

BRS leader T Harish Rao accused the Congress government of reducing the rabi paddy procurement target and misleading farmers with false claims. He alleged procurement delays, inadequate lifting of produce and payment issues while demanding immediate procurement of all paddy stocks.

Hyderabad: BRS Legislature Party deputy floor leader T Harish Rao lashed out at the Congress government for quietly reducing the rabi paddy procurement target from 90 lakh metric tonnes to 75 lakh metric tonnes, accusing Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy of covering up a procurement failure with misleading claims.

“You boast of a record harvest of 1.41 crore metric tonnes, but restrict procurement to 75 lakh tonnes. You promised to procure every last grain and then slashed your own target. Is this not cheating farmers?” he asked.

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Responding to the Minister’s statement, Harish Rao said the Minister would likely announce completion of procurement within days without even achieving the target. He reminded the Minister that before claiming national records, he should acknowledge that the BRS government had procured 92.39 lakh metric tonnes during the 2020-21 Yasangi season, which was a genuine national record and a benchmark the current government had fallen short of.

The BRSLP deputy leader posed pointed questions on whether it was false that farmers died while waiting at paddy procurement centres, whether they waited for days without their produce being lifted and whether rain-soaked paddy caused them losses. He also questioned whether procurement was dragged on for months and whether delayed payments pushed farmers into debt. “And yet the government claims operations are proceeding smoothly and accuses the BRS of peddling false propaganda. That is shameful,” he said.

Harish Rao demanded that the government abandon target-based thinking and procure every grain of paddy without further delay. “Stop making speeches from air-conditioned offices in Hyderabad. Go to the procurement centres, see what farmers are enduring, and act,” he said.